Some gamers love achievements and trophies. These rewards can extend the enjoyment of a game by introducing new challenges and encouraging players to do things in a different way. I personally played Half-Life 2: Episode 1 using only one bullet and dragged that stupid garden gnome across Episode 2 just for 70 Orange Box achievement points.

While most gamers I know like what these rewards have brought to games, some argue that the rewards get in the way of properly enjoying a game - and Twisted Metal creator, David Jaffe, might be one of them.

When asked what the new Twisted Metal will have for trophies, director David Jaffe responded on Twitter (a venue Jaffe has been using a lot lately) that whatever they end up doing there will not be many online trophies.

"Dunno on trophies yet but more and more it sounds like most plyrs hate online troph

so my gut says we will lean very heavily towards SP trophies. Perhaps 90/10 split? What say you? :)"

Jaffe also went on to say that he doesn’t think that all online trophies are bad - as long as they mirror the purpose of the mode you are playing.

“If the goal of the trophy=goal of the mode, it works, yes?”

He gives the example of winning 10 matches of a mode type (instead of winning 10 in a row) as something they are considering.

As someone who enjoys the extra challenges put forth by achievements and trophies I totally agree with what Jaffe is saying. Some games with online trophies/achievements do a decent job like the recently released Singularity. The game’s rewards, while not perfect, seemed designed to make you learn the character classes and use their abilities (as they were intended) to get the rewards.

David Jaffe Gamers Hate Online Trophies

On the other side you have the ones such as Red Dead Redemption, which practically encourages players to find a way to cheat the system - with achievements such as “Go Team” and “The Quick and Everyone Else...” which require you to be on the winning team for four straight matches and be the number one player in three consecutive Free-For-All matches. As I've been playing Red Dead, I've been asked several times to leave various lobbies because the players in the game were achievement boosting.

If you're a gamer who hunts for achievements you probably do change your play-style - adjusting for potential game-score rewards. Instead of actively pursuing objectives you probably camp in a corner and try for cheap kills - or worse, get your buddies together for boosting. Either way, you're not playing the game as intended and possibly deterring the enjoyment of others.

Why make trophies or achievements to encourage that behavior?

It's good to see Jaffe trying to work out what's best for gamers - similar to his recent decision to not include PlayStation Move or 3D support in Twisted Metal.

Where do you guys stand? Do you think achievements and trophies should be limited to single player only? What trophies would you like to see in Twisted Metal?

Twisted Metal is scheduled for release sometime in 2011.

Sources: David Jaffe [via CVG]